Originally I came from the Caspian and Black Seas.

As larvae we hitched rides in the ballast water ships that traveled to the United States. We were released into waters of the Great Lakes region in the 1980s. Because we reproduce so rapidly, we spread at tremendous rates and now live all over the eastern U.S. Females can release up to 100,000 eggs per year! Since we've been here, we discovered many sneaky ways of reaching new waters. We attach to people's personal boats and trailers, as larvae we can hide in people's bait buckets and wells, and we can hide on aquatic plants that are being transported. When these things are put into the water, so are we.

In the past 20 years, I have spread from the Great Lakes where I was introduced throughout the eastern United States. In the south, I have become a big problem in the Lower Mississippi and the Atchafalaya rivers.

We love to come in and destroy the critters that were there before us. We filter phytoplankton, tiny aquatic plant matter, out of the water at incredible speed. After we have colonized an area, we filter the water of all phytoplankton in no time. In doing this, we are stealing food from fish in the area. We can virtually starve native food webs. Eating all the phytoplankton in an ecosystem can also be harmful because more sunlight penetrates the water. More sunlight can cause a rise in water temperature and growth of unwanted algae and plants in the water.

The biggest problem we pose in the southern region is attaching in large numbers to basically anything. We attach to industrial pumps, boat motors, other recreational boating equipment and even other mollusks. We can clog pumps causing a load of problems for industry. It is very expensive to get rid of us from such equipment. When we attach to other mussels, we can suffocate them.

The most important thing in controlling me right now is keeping me from spreading into areas where I am not yet located. Fishermen should take precaution in cleaning their boats and equipment. As for the areas where I am already a problem, there are several methods being tested for my control.